Rank and File - Black Book

What this video is

Released in 1987 as the lead single from Rank and File's self-titled final album on Rhino Records, 'Black Book' documents a band in stylistic crisis — the Kinman brothers and their hard-rock-era lineup abandoning their pioneering cowpunk sound in a bid for mainstream MTV viability. The album, produced by Bill Pfordresher, marked a deliberate shift from country-inflected post-punk toward the arena rock and hair…

Why it matters

A rare document of cowpunk's commercial endgame: Rank and File had pioneered the genre from 1981, and 'Black Book' shows the genre dissolving under the weight of late-1980s hard rock production. As both a music video artifact and a cultural document, it captures the moment alt-country's punk…